


These Broken Wings

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 11:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: Jester has seen all of her friends' wings except for Caleb's and she's going to fix that.





	These Broken Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I was asking for prompts and Aqua from the Widojest Love discord asked for a Wing fic. I hope you all enjoy it.

In the Dwendalian Empire, wings were to be covered at all times. Jester found this rule to be incredibly frustrating. She wanted to let her wings breath and maybe show off their bright blue coloring. Also, she loved seeing her friends’ wings too and disappointed by how rare it was to see them. 

The pair of wings she had seen the most were Fjord’s since the Menagerie coast didn’t have any silly rules about hiding your wings. Fjord’s were those of an oversized seabird and during the first few weeks they were together he kept knocking things over with them and getting them stuck(it made for wonderful prank inspiration). Eventually he started to maneuver them better.

Beau would throw off her coat at the starts of fights and would use her owl wings to maintain her balance(and to look cool for Yasha). They would block hits sometimes and were an important contribution to their battles.

At first Jester thought that Yasha didn’t have wings until the night Yasha revealed the skeletal ones. They were super cool and super creepy.

And Molly’s wings were the prettiest all shiny like a peacock’s. He would spend hours preening and cleaning them and sometimes he’d let Jester help him clean them while she told him tales of the Traveler.

Caduceus did not have the wings of a bird, but those of a bug. They made Jester think of a dragonfly’s and sometimes when he was happy they’d buzz in a low hum. 

Goblins didn’t have wings, so Jester made Nott’s wings out of sticks and paper(Nott accepted them with a blush. She never wore them, but sometimes late at night Jester would catch her looking at them). 

They all had wonderful wings, so Jester couldn’t pick a favorite. Also she hadn’t seen the wings of all her friends; Caleb kept his covered at all times. He had never taken his coat off once, not even at the bath house. Jester had some guesses though of what they were like. If Caleb’s coat got pulled up, she could see the tip of one of his wings down by his knee, so she knew his wings were long. But they didn’t take up a lot of room under his coat, so they were also thin. She found a feather of his once. It was a deep rust and just made her even more curious, but despite her best efforts, Caleb refused to show her his wings.

It was after a miserable fight that Jester finally got to see them. The Mighty Nein found themselves up against a bunch of goblins and one of them managed to get their hands on a wand of magic missiles. The short version was that it sucked and they killed a bunch of goblins. Nott was mad that one got away. 

Once the battle was over, Caleb was pale and shaky, but Jester couldn’t see any injuries on him until she noticed how his coat did not lay right at all. Jester gently traced her hand over where his left wing was and quickly found a bad break. “Caleb, take your coat off,” she said.

“What?” Caleb said finding a way to look even paler. He gripped his coat closer to himself and winced in pain.

“You’re wing’s broken and we can’t heal it with your coat on,” Jester said. “Wing injuries are the worst, so I’ll be super gentle. Or Caduceus can do if you’d prefer.”

Caleb shook his head. “No, you can do it, just not around the others.”

If he didn’t look so bad, Jester would’ve waggled her eyebrows and teased him, but with him looking so close to collapsing, she didn’t have it in her. “Okay, Caleb.” She led Caleb behind of a copse of trees.

Once they were alone, Caleb turned away from her and took off his coat. His left wing was crooked from the break. It was long and not well taken care of, but Jester was certain that if Caleb cleaned it properly did keep it always crammed under his coat, his wing could be very handsome. The right wing on the other hand ended after a foot and a half in a horrifically scarred stump. It looked like it had been badly burned and then healed improperly.

“Oh, Caleb,” Jester said softly. 

He hung his head down low. “Just heal it.”

Softly, Jester set her hands on his wing as she healed it and set it back into place. As soon as she was finished, Caleb put back on his coat. She felt like she should say something, but it felt like he wouldn’t hear whatever she said.

“Please don’t tell the others about this,” he said.

“I won’t,” she said. “But, I think you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Lots people have missing wings and I think yours are still handsome.”

Caleb continued to avoid looking at her and was quiet for a long time. “I should go check on Nott.”

“Right. I should go check on the others,” Jester said.

They returned to where the rest of the Mighty Nein were in silence. But, as they walked Jester decided on something. Caleb’s wings were her favorite because somebody should love them, and then maybe one day, she could show him how to love his wings too.


End file.
